This I Believe

What do I believe in? This question caused me to look at my values and the important things in my life. From these I decided that I believe in doing things for the betterment of our society. I believe that well rounded people help to create better societies by being more accepting of other values. By having a background that encompasses many subjects, a person has a broader understanding of the world and the people in it. Schools that require different classes, help the students become aware of other subjects, and may spark an interest in another activity. Extra school activities also help create more well rounded people. These also create healthier people by creating more active people. For example, if I have something to do after school I will be at that event instead of sitting on the sofa and watching TV. Even if the event is not very strenuous I am still exerting more energy than I would by staying at home. Extra school activities give me something other than homework to do broadening my interest. Last year while I was waiting to be picked up from school, I decided to go to a Spanish Club meeting. The odd thing is I never took a Spanish class in high school, I took Latin. I went out on a limb, and found I liked it. The rest of the year I was a regular attendee and hardly ever missed a meeting. The Spanish teacher told me the next year that she had tried to initiate me into Spanish Honors Society but found that I was not in a Spanish class and therefore not allegeable. Spanish club broadened my interest and helped me establish ties outside of the classroom. We did not even do that much. We had a meeting every other week in which we just planned for the upcoming fiestas. Extra curricular activities do not have to be time consuming; they can happen just a few times a month, but the key thing is that you do something. These activities also help broaden the interest of people. Spanish club was a way for me to find something that one was never really exposed to and ended up enjoying it very much. Also these activities can bring enjoyment to others. For example, the drama club. The plays they put on are enjoyed by my family and me, but none of us are members. Every time there is a play we try to go and see it enjoying other peoples work. All extra school activates make life more interesting and help to make us all more well rounded. So in that way I believe in well rounded people and in extra curricular activities that help our society indirectly by making people more willing to try new things and more accepting of other things.

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Top 100 Essays USB Drive

This USB drive contains 100 of the top This I Believe audio broadcasts of the last ten years, plus some favorites from Edward R. Murrow's radio series of the 1950s. It's perfect for personal or classroom use! Click here to learn more.

This week’s essay

Growing up in the former Yugoslavia, lawyer Djenita Pasic enjoyed the peace of her religiously diverse country. But after the fall of communism and the outbreak of the Bosnian War, Pasic was forced to reevaluate her ideas about religion and tolerance. Click here to read her essay.